'Black Day for Wrestling': Yogeshwar Dutt Questions One-bout Trial for Six Protesting Wrestlers

Olympic medallist Yogeshwar Dutt has termed IOA ad-hoc panel’s controversial decision to reduce the selection competition to one-bout trial for six protesting wrestlers as a ‘black day for wrestling’ in India.

In a video posted on Friday morning on his Twitter handle, Dutt asked why Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik, Sangeeta Phogat, Satywart Kadian and Jitender Kinha have been given the exemption when there are much more deserving wrestlers based on their recent performances.

“I came to know about the IOA’s exemption to the protesting wrestlers through newspapers. I don’t know what criteria has been set by the IOA for their selection. If the committee wants such a trial, then there are many wrestlers like Olympic medalist Ravi Dahiya, world silver medalist Anshu Malik etc who performed well on the international stage. It is beyond my understanding to exempt six wrestlers from the trials,” Dutt said.

“This is absolutely wrong. Even the earlier federation did not take such decision that you (the Ad-hoc committee) have taken, without looking at any rules and without making any criteria,” he added.

Dutt urged the wrestlers to write letters to the concerned authorities to lodge their protest against the decision made by the ad-hoc pandel.

“I would like the wrestlers -greco roman and freestyle – to raise their voices. I’m not asking them to protest. keep working hard but raise your voice via media, write letter to PM, Home Minister, Sports Minister, IOA and let them know about the decision taken by the ad-hoc committee,” he said.

Dutt said exemptions have been given to wrestlers in the past but it was only afforded to the deserving candidates.

“There have been exemptions in the past but that were only given to the outstanding wrestlers. These wrestlers have stayed away from the mat for a long time maybe for over a year. This is wrong. This isn’t a decision for the betterment of wrestling,” the 40-year-old said.

He said those who supported the recent protest against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) should try to understand the motive behind it now.

“They should know why the protest was held. Was it for the sexual harassment or for exemption from the trial,” he said.

Interestingly, the wrestlers had requested the Sports Ministry to allow them to appear in the Asian Games trials in August because they are under-prepared for the competition due to their long-drawn protest against outgoing WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who is facing sexual harassment charges.

Elite wrestlers like Bajrang and Vinesh have been given exemptions by WFI from full trials in the past to protect them from injuries but never ever Sangeeta Phogat, Satyawart Kadian and Jitender Kinha were considered for such a favour.

The ad-hoc panel is required to hold the Asian Games trials before July 15 — the deadline to send the details of all Indian squads to the organisers.

By conducting the initial trials, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) will be able to send wrestlers’ names to Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) within the July 15 deadline.

With PTI Inputs